News & Events

A broad coalition labor and community groups, including the PSC, is working with Occupy Wall Street to organize a mass action at Foley Square and throughout Lower Manhattan the evening of Thursday, November 17th. Please come rally and march for our students at CUNY. They truly are the 99%. New York should be funding their educations, not handing tax breaks to the wealthy and the super-rich.

After a spirited debate, the PSC Delegate Assembly voted 51-35-4 in favor of affiliating with the Working Families Party (WFP resolution)

The proposed affiliation came before the delegates after having received a thorough examination and recommendation from both the PSC’s Legislation and Solidarity Committees, as well as the Executive Council

Last Wednesday (October 26), PSC Secretary Arthurine DeSola testified before the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Higher Education at hearing examining the effects of the current state budget and the state’s new tuition policy. In her testimony, Secretary DeSola reaffirmed PSC’s position that CUNY should be funded with pubic dollars, not endless tuition hikes. She also called for continuation of the state millionaires’ tax, and told the legislators that the state must fund all of CUNY’s mandatory cost increases.

If you are an adjunct who has not yet joined the New York City Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), please fill out an enrollment form immediately. There will be drastic consequences for adjuncts who delay enrolling in TRS if the New York State legislature agrees to pension changes recently proposed by Governor Cuomo.

We are borrowing the text from a Move On alert to its members. The City of New York is threatening to shut down Zuccotti Park tomorrow at 7:00AM. Now more than ever, those who have stood up to Wall Street greed need our support.

Chanting “banks got bailed out, we got sold out”, more than 800 demonstrators paraded through the Upper East Side Tuesday afternoon bringing protests against inequality and the excesses of Wall Street to the doorstep of some of New York's wealthiest residents.

PSC members joined the action. “I thought today's march was right on the money,” said Cecilia McCall of the retirees chapter. “They have a demand that can be realized in making sure that the [New York state] millionaires' tax is not allowed to be suspended.”

Konstantin (Costas) Panayotakis is an Associate Professor at the New York City College of Technology focusing on social theory, political economy and environmental sociology. He’s also an active member of the NYC Tech PSC chapter and a member of the PSC Delegate Assembly. In his spare time he rides the subway and talks to strangers—seriously!

Costas’ alter ego is “Austerity Nut,” a hyper-capitalist, true-believer who preaches the need for working people to “sacrifice for our suffering brothers and sisters in Wall Street.” Whenever he can, he shares his inspiring message of tax breaks for the rich and service cuts for the rest of us with straphangers throughout the city.

Update: The starting location for today’s (Oct. 5) community labor march in solidarity with the #OccupyWallStreet protest at Zuccotti Park has been changed from City Hall to Foley Square (between Duane St. and Center St.).

The meet up location for PSC members HAS NOT CHANGED. We will gather at the intersection of Warren St and Broadway at 4:15 PM,

The AFT, our national affiliate, is looking for volunteers to assist in the labor-to-labor campaign to “Vote No on Issue 2.” Defeating Issue 2 will repeal SB 5 – Ohio Governor John Kasich’s attack on public education, public services and working families in Ohio.

The campaign is looking for volunteers throughout October and early November.